tihxaxy  of  t:Ke  theological  ^^minavy 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 


CHRISTIANITY  AND 
THE  UNITED  STAT^^ ,,  ^ 

^R^  OF  PRi^^ 

F£0  20  1959 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  GOUCHER 

President  of  The  Womaa^s  College  of  Baltimore 


^OG/CAL    SEi 


NEW    YORK:     EATON    &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI :  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS. 


NOTE 

A  request  to  address  the  Tokyo  Conference  of  the 
World's  Student  Christian  Federation  on  *'  Christianity 
and  the  United  States  "  accounts  for  the  preparation  of 
this  paper,  the  latter  part  of  which  was  read  before  that 
body  at  its  meeting  in  March,  1907. 

I  am  keenly  conscious  of  its  inadequacy  to  more  than 
suggest  some  of  the  outstanding  facts  concerning  the  vital 
and  determining  relation  of  Christianity  to  the  United 
States  of  America.  In  this  limited  space  I  am  debarred 
from  formally  defining,  or  even  naming,  the  varying  forms 
of  evil  and  organized  forces  which  contend  with  it  for 
mastery,  or  discussing  our  epochal  conflicts,  every  one  of 
which  has  marked  an  advance  for  righteousness. 

A  stout  volume  would  not  be  sufficient  to  do  justice  to 
the  changing  phases  and  subtle  relations  of  this  complex 
subject.  But  the  more  comprehensive  the  range  of  facts 
considered  and  the  more  thorough  the  analysis  of  the 
antagonizing  forces  in  their  relation  to  each  other  and  to 
humanity,  the  more  manifest  is  the  dominant  influence  of 
Christianity  in  our  national  life  and  its  essential  relation 
to  our  future  development. 

I  have  consulted,  so  far  as  possible,  the  original  sources 
of  information,  and,  while  acknowledging  my  primary 
obligation  to  them,  I  desire  to  make  special  mention  of 
my  indebtedness  for  both  facts  and  suggestions  to  The 
Statesman's  Year  Book,  Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester,  Dr. 
Josiah  Strong,  Dr.  H.  K.  Carroll,  Dr.  J.  B.  Clark,  and 
Dr.  E.  N.  Hardy. 

John  Franklin  Goucher. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  UNITED 
STATES 

Four  centuries  ago  the  land  now  occupied  by 
the  forty-five  repubHcs  known  collectively  as 
the  United  States  of  America  was  a  vast  waste. 
Its  stately  forests  were  untraversed  except  by 
Indians,  scarcely  less  wild  than  the  game  they 
hunted;  its  majestic  rivers  were  unutilized  ex- 
cept for  fishing,  or  floating  an  occasional  canoe 
of  crudest  construction;  its  varied  and  appar- 
ently inexhaustible  mineral  deposits  were  un- 
worked,  its  prairies  untilled,  and  its  savannas 
unsubdued.  Less  than  half  a  million  roving 
children  of  the  chase  were  its  sole  occupants 
and  they  were  without  roads  except  the  trails 
worn  by  their  moccasined  feet;  without  cities 
except  here  and  there  an  aggregation  of  skin 
or  bark  wigwams;  without  art  or  architecture 
save  that  crystallized  from  prehistoric  times  in 
the  ruins  of  the  Southwest;  without  organized 
courts  of  justice  or  a  system  of  broadening  cul- 
ture; without  literature,  or  a  form  of  writing 
except  a  few  rudimentary  pictographs;  and  the 
land  itself,  though  facing  the  Atlantic  and  the 

5 


6  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Pacific,  midway  between  Europe  and  Asia,  was 
unknown. 

This  terra  incognita  has  become  the  chief 
thoroughfare  of  the  world's  commerce  and 
travel.  Within  its  borders  has  been  developed 
a  great  nation  with  80,000,000  self-governing 
citizens,  whose  industry,  intelligence,  initiative, 
public  spirit,  courage,  and  self-command  are 
unsurpassed.  Its  high  ideal  of  manhood,  its 
moral  stamina,  even-handed  justice,  aggressive 
home  policies,  and  frank,  uncompromising  re- 
lations to  foreign  nations  have  made  it  a  world 
power,  honored  in  all  lands,  although  its  stand- 
ing army  of  70,000  is  in  numbers  only  fourteenth 
among  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  in  tonnage 
its  navy  ranks  but  fourth.  Its  judicial  au- 
thority, vested  in  a  Supreme  Court  of  nine 
justices,  who  have  always  been  incorruptible, 
is  cheerfully  obeyed.  The  public  school  system, 
which  it  has  devised  and  elaborated  and  main- 
tains at  an  annual  cost  to  the  state  of  ^73,216,- 
227,  provides  free  primary  and  secondary 
education  for  every  child  within  its  borders, 
and  has  been  commended  as  an  inspiration 
and  a  model  for  all  nations.  Its  mechanics 
and  laborers  are  the  best  educated,  the  most 
productive,  the  best  paid,  the  best  housed,  the 


THE  UNITED  STATES  7 

best  clothed,  and  the  best  fed  in  the  world. 
Its  production  of  iron  and  steel  in  1905  was 
more  than  half  the  world's  output  the  previous 
year.  Its  production  of  gold  is  second  only  to 
Australia,  and  of  silver  to  Mexico;  while  the 
value  of  its  agricultural  products  in  1905  ex- 
ceeded the  value  of  the  total  output  of  gold  in 
the  entire  world  during  the  thirty  years  previous. 
It  has  within  its  borders  two  fifths  of  the  entire 
railway  mileage  of  the  world.  The  shipping 
which  passed  through  one  of  its  water  ways, 
the  locks  of  its  Sault  Sainte  Marie,  during  eight 
months  of  1905  (36,617,699  tons)  was  twice  the 
tonnage  which  during  twelve  months  of  the  same 
year  passed  through  the  Suez  Canal  (18,310,442 
tons),  which  carries  commerce  for  all  the  world. 

The  United  States  has  accumulated  ;?  100,000- 
000,000  in  material  wealth,  which  is  more  than 
the  aggregate  of  both  Great  Britain  and  Ger- 
many, or  equal  to  that  of  France,  Russia,  Italy, 
Belgium,  and  the  Netherlands  combined;  while 
its  banking  power  in  1905  was  nearly  one  half 
(44  per  cent)  of  the  total  banking  power  of  the 
entire  world. 

The  development  of  the  United  States  was 
not  a  simple  proposition.  It  presented  com- 
plex  and   unusual   problems,   the   solution   of 


8  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

which  required  a  generous,  persistent  purpose 
with  immense  constructive  and  vitaHzing  energy. 
An  unknown  land,  beyond  treacherous  seas 
which  no  adventurous  keel  had  ever  crossed, 
had  to  be  discovered.  The  ideal  and  germ  of 
a  new  and  comprehensive  government  had  to 
be  formed  wherein  liberty  and  law,  the  Church 
and  the  State,  conscience  and  environment 
would  have  full  play  and  co-operate  to  so  exalt 
manhood  that  the  sovereign  people  should  pos- 
sess the  influence  and  dignity  formerly  accorded 
to  priests  and  kings.  A  population  had  to  be 
gathered,  indoctrinated,  and  assimilated,  while 
the  national  life  was  being  defined,  organized, 
developed,  and  articulated  with  other  nations. 
There  was  no  nation  which  offered  favorable 
conditions  for  attaining  the  type  of  manhood 
which  it  required.  A  stream  cannot  rise  higher 
than  its  source,  and  yet  this  nation  has  been  so 
developed  as  to  measurably  perform  and  stead- 
ily approximate  the  high  functions  proposed. 
How  can  this  be  accounted  for  ?  What  force 
could  supply  the  motive,  command  the  devo- 
tion, enforce  the  restraints,  and  organize  the 
elements  essential  to  meet  these  varied  and 
phenomenal  demands  and  develop  such  a  na- 
tion, within  such  conditions  ? 


THE  UNITED  STATES  9 

The  vital,  uplifting,  organizing,  and  expand- 
ing power  of  Christianity  is  the  adequate  cause 
of  these  extraordinary  results.  A  broad  dis- 
tinction is  to  be  made  between  Christianity  and 
the  Church.  Love  is  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
while  the  Church  is  its  more  or  less  immature, 
and  at  times  distorted,  body.  Christianity  is 
not  a  series  of  mandatory  or  prohibitive  enact- 
ments, neither  is  it  a  form  of  worship,  nor  a 
system  of  doctrine.  Christianity  is  a  life,  satis- 
fying all  essentially  human  relations  by  in- 
terpreting God,  the  Father  of  us  all,  in  terms  of 
human  living.  It  is  the  embodiment  of  God 
in  human  personality — the  extension  of  the 
incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ.  God  is  love,  and  he 
said,  "If  ye  have  love  one  to  another  all  men  shall 
know  that  ye  are  my  disciples."  So  Christianity 
is  the  embodiment  of  the  vital,  transforming, 
uplifting  power  of  love  working  toward  righteous- 
ness, which  inhibits  cruelty,  oppression,  injustice, 
selfishness,  ignorance,  and  all  low-spirited  ac- 
tivities. Liberty  is  a  concomitant  of  its  growth, 
and  helpfulness  is  its  normal  manifestation. 

Christianity  accounts  for  the  discovery  and 
settlement  of  America,  it  determined  our  govern- 
mental organization,  and  has  been  the  dominat- 
ing influence  in  our  national  development. 


lo  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

I.  Discovery. 

The  desire  to  extend  Christianity  to  unknown 
lands  induced  Queen  Isabella  of  Spain  to  pledge 
her  jewels  that  she  might  provide  funds  to 
equip  Christopher  Columbus  for  his  voyage  of 
discovery.  When  Columbus  set  his  adven- 
turous feet  upon  the  New  World,  which  Isa- 
bella's religious  zeal  had  made  it  possible  for 
him  to  discover,  he  planted  the  cross  of  Christ 
beside  the  banner  of  Castile  and  Leon,  thus  in- 
terpreting the  desire  of  his  royal  patroness  by 
dedicating  this  land  to  civil  government  and 
the  higher  authority  of  redeeming  love. 

In  later  years,  before  the  national  government 
had  any  purpose  to  preempt  the  territory  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  when,  in  fact,  the 
government  considered  that  region  to  be  inac- 
cessible and  undesirable,  the  churches,  in  their 
zeal  to  extend  the  teachings  of  Christianity, 
sent  their  pioneer  preachers  to  the  extreme 
Northwest.  Thus,  in  1834,  Rev.  Jason  Lee 
penetrated  the  untrodden  forests,  threaded  the 
hitherto  undiscovered  mountain  passes,  forded 
or  swam  the  unbridged  rivers,  and  crossed  the 
inhospitable  plains,  braving  the  cruelty  of  war- 
ring Indians,  and  blazed  a  trail  for  2,000  miles 
through  the  trackless  wilderness  for  the  govern- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  ii 

ment  to  follow,  and  all  because  the  love  of 
Christ  for  human  souls  constrained  him  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  far-away  Westerners. 
Similar  agencies,  inspired  or  directed  by  the 
zeal  for  Christianity,  extended  our  borders  till 
a  large  part  of  the  continent  became  the  posses- 
sion of  our  nation. 

II.  Settlement. 

The  earliest  settlers  of  the  original  colonies 
came  from  various  lands,  with  various  motives 
and  under  various  conditions,  but  their  leaders 
were  characterized  by  a  remarkable  unanimity 
of  purpose — to  find  a  refuge  from  spiritual 
despotism,  to  secure  personal  liberty  in  the 
worship  of  God,  and  to  have  freedom  of  local 
self-government  in  the  New  World. 

The  "Compact  of  the  Freemen  of  the  Colony 
of  New  Plymouth,"  prepared  in  the  cabin  of 
the  Mayflower  and  adopted  at  Cape  Cod, 
November  ii,  1620,  says:  "We  whose  names 
are  underwritten,  .  .  .  having  undertaken,  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  advancement  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  honor  of  our  King  and 
country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in 
the  northern  part  of  Virginia,  do  by  these 
presents,  solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence 


12  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

of  God  and  of  one  another,  covenant  and  com- 
bine ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  politic 
for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation  and 
furthering  of  the  ends  aforesaid." 

This  compact  is  a  fair  expression  of  the 
fundamental  principles  v^hich  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree  actuated  the  first  settlers  of  all  the 
colonies,  namely,  loyalty  to  God,  and  the  de- 
sire for  liberty  of  conscience  and  speech,  se- 
curity of  person  and  property,  and  the  exercise 
of  their  right  to  **form  such  just  and  equal  lav^s 
...  as  shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  con- 
venient for  the  general  good." 

Within  ten  years,  in  the  first  half  of  the  cen- 
tury, more  than  20,000  Separatists,  Puritans, 
Dissenters,  Independents,  Presbyterians,  and 
Baptists  sailed  from  England  for  this  land  of 
religious  freedom,  of  whom  one  half  of  one 
per  cent  had  been  graduated  from  Oxford  or 
Cambridge. 

A  careful  historian  has  said:  "The  men  en- 
gaged in  the  formation  of  the  New  England 
colonies  have  seldom  been  surpassed  in  sagacity 
and  prowess,  in  piety  and  benevolent  exertion. 
Many  of  them  were  men  of  education  and  rank. 
.  .  .  Their  heart  was  with  God,  his  love  their 
guide,  his  glory  their  aim." 


THE  UNITED  STATES  13 

The  first  charter  of  Virginia,  granted  by 
King  James  I  in  1606,  says:  "We,  greatly 
commending  and  graciously  accepting  of  their 
desires  for  the  furtherance  of  so  noble  a  work, 
which  may  by  the  providence  of  Almighty  God 
hereafter  tend  to  the  glory  of  his  Divine  Majesty 
in  propagating  the  Christian  religion  to  such 
people  as  yet  live  in  darkness  and  miserable 
ignorance  of  the  true  knowledge  and  worship 
of  God,"  etc. 

About  1634  an  act  establishing  religious  free- 
dom was  passed  in  the  Province  of  Maryland 
by  "the  Assembly  of  Freemen,"  and  sanctioned 
by  the  Proprietor  and  Governor — the  latter, 
his  council,  and  probably  a  majority  of  the 
Assembly  being  Protestants. 

The  Dutch  of  New  York  were  children  of 
the  Reformation,  and,  however  eager  for  trade, 
brought  their  religion  with  them.  New  Jersey 
was  settled  largely  by  Presbyterians.  The 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  had  deep-rooted  prin- 
ciples of  personal  liberty  and  reverence  for  God, 
which  the  Presbyterians  strengthened.  Dela- 
ware was  settled  by  Christian  Swedes  sent  out 
by  their  Christian  king,  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
who  declared  his  purpose  of  making  the  new 
colony  "a  blessing  to  the  common  man  as  well 


14  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

as  the  whole  Protestant  world."  The  charter 
of  Carolina,  granted  in  1663,  recites  that  the 
petitioners  "being  excited  with  a  laudable  and 
pious  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  Christian 
faith,"  etc.  The  settlement  of  Georgia  was  a 
philanthropic  enterprise  influenced  largely  by 
Moravians  and  Presbyterians. 

Mr.  Bryce  says:  "It  was  religious  zeal  and 
the  religious  consciousness  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  the  New  England  colonies  two 
centuries  and  a  half  ago,  those  colonies  whose 
spirit  has  in  such  large  measure  passed  into  the 
whole  nation." 

Mr.  Bancroft  says:  "Our  fathers  were  not 
only  Christians,  but  almost  unanimously  they 
were  Protestants.  The  colonists  from  Maine 
to  Carolina,  the  adventurous  companions  of 
Smith,  the  Puritan  felons  that  freighted  the 
fleet  of  Winthrop,  the  Quaker  outlaws  that  fled 
from  jails  with  the  Newgate  prisoner  as  sov- 
ereign— all  had  faith  in  God  and  in  the  soul." 

The  early  settlers  were  far  from  being  ideal 
men  or  all  of  a  kind.  Many,  very  many,  were 
adventurers  with  bad  morals  and  selfish  motives. 
But  these  were  accidents  of  environment  or 
victims  of  unavoidable  ignorance  and  systematic 
oppression  rather  than  criminals  by  choice,  or 


THE  UNITED  STATES  15 

offenders  against  the  fundamental  rights  of 
humanity  by  preference.  Rarely  were  they 
purposefully  organized  for  evil,  while  the 
leaders  of  thought  and  usually  those  in  authority 
were  persistently  perfecting  their  organizations 
to  conserve  and  develop  Christian  ethics.  The 
energy  of  the  worst,  when  well  directed,  became 
invaluable  in  the  wilderness  life. 

Dr.  J.  B.  Clark  has  well  said:  "With  all  its 
unwinnowed  chaff,  was  there  ever  so  much 
precious  seed  for  the  planting  of  a  nation,  Pil- 
grims, Moravians,  and  Huguenots,  Covenanters 
and  Churchmen,  Presbyterians  and  Baptists, 
Lutherans  and  Quakers,  displaying  many  ban- 
ners, but  on  them  all  one  Name,  seeking  many 
goods,  but  holding  one  good  supreme — freedom 
to  worship  God  as  the  Spirit  taught  and  as 
conscience  interpreted." 

Such  were  our  forbears  who  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Republic,  and  such  the  motives 
which  influenced  them  to  brave  the  rigors  of 
an  inhospitable  wilderness.  As  might  be  ex- 
pected, the  outcome  was  a  Christian  nation. 

III.  Organization. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  second  third  of  the 
eighteenth     century     that    vigorous    spiritual 


i6  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

leader,  Jonathan  Edwards,  with  earnestness 
which  compelled  attention  and  logic  which  was 
unanswerable,  so  argued  for  justification  by 
faith  as  to  produce  a  profound  impression  upon 
the  mind  and  conscience  of  the  thinking  class. 
Half  a  decade  later  the  eloquent  and  impas- 
sioned appeals  of  that  untiring  evangelist, 
George  Whitefield,  as  he  persuaded  men  to 
righteousness,  brought  a  great  spiritual  uplift 
to  all  classes  in  America.  "Magistrates  and 
civilians,  merchants  and  mechanics,  women  and 
children,  servants  and  negroes,  all  were  re- 
ligiously affected  and  many  (estimated  at  50,000 
in  New  England  alone)  were  converted." 

This  quickening  of  religious  consciousness, 
deepening  of  ethical  conviction,  strengthening 
of  evangelistic  fervor,  and  awakening  of  patriotic 
devotion  were  preparatory  to  the  birth  of  our 
nation.  After  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
of  isolation  from  their  central  government, 
misunderstandings  of  their  condition,  indif- 
ference to  their  interests,  disregard  of  their 
petitions,  oppressive  legislation,  and  frequent 
indignities,  these  people,  who  had  sought  a 
haven  from  spiritual  oppression  in  the  New 
World,  enjoyed  freedom  of  conscience  and  amid 
untold  hardships  nursed  their  longings  for  per- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  17 

sonal  liberty,  declared  their  independence,  and 
submitted  their  cause  to  the  arbitrament  of 
war. 

Great  human  principles  and  movements  are 
not  thought  out  with  the  mind,  they  are  felt  out 
with  the  heart.  The  process  is  not  syllogistic, 
but  experimental.  By  long-protracted  suffer- 
ing and  great  personal  sacrifices  for  a  common 
cause,  by  courage  and  comradeship  in  its  de- 
fense, and  by  mutual  interest  to  be  conserved 
the  colonists  were  fused  into  oneness  of  desire 
for  national  life.  This  their  Continental  Con- 
gress formulated  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  subsequently  the  Constitution 
defined  the  powers  of  the  government  and  safe- 
guarded the  rights  of  its  citizens.  Article  VI 
provides  that  "No  religious  test  shall  ever  be 
required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or 
public  trust  under  the  United  States."  But  the 
principles  which  underlie  the  Constitution  are 
identical  with  and  essentially  related  to  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  This  fact  may  be  set 
forth  most  convincingly  by  a  few  quotations, 
official  and  otherwise,  from  eminent  and  un- 
prejudiced men. 

Mr.  Bryce,  in  The  American  Common- 
wealth, says:   "There  is  no  established  church 


i8  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

in  the  United  States.  All  religious  bodies  are 
absolutely  equal  before  the  law  and  unrecog- 
nized by' the  law,  except  as  voluntary  associations 
of  private  citizens.  ...  It  never  occurs  to  the 
average  American  that  there  is  any  reason  why 
a  state  church  should  exist,  yet  each  House  of 
Congress  has  a  chaplain  and  opens  its  proceed- 
ings each  day  with  prayer.  The  President  an- 
nually, after  the  end  of  the  harvest,  issues  a 
proclamation  ordering  a  general  thanksgiving 
and  occasionally  appoints  a  day  of  fasting  and 
humiliation. 

"So  prayers  are  offered  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture and  State  governors  issue  proclamations 
for  days  of  religious  observance.  In  1863 
Congress  requested  the  President  to  appoint  a 
day  of  humiliation  and  prayer.  In  the  army 
and  navy  provision  is  made  for  religious  serv- 
ice conducted  by  chaplains  of  various  denom- 
inations. In  most  States  there  exist  laws  pun- 
ishing blasphemy  or  profane  swearing  by  the 
name  of  God,  and  laws  restricting  or  forbidding 
trade  or  labor  on  the  Sabbath. 

"The  matter  may  be  summed  up  by  saying 
that  Christianity  is  in  fact  understood  to  be, 
though  not  the  legally  established  religion,  yet, 
the  national  religion.  .  .  .  The  Americans  deem 


THE  UNITED  STATES  19 

the  general  acceptance  of  Christianity  to  be  one 
of  the  main  sources  of  their  national  prosperity/' 

Justice  Allen  says:  "Christianity  is  not  the 
legal  religion  of  the  States,  as  established  by 
law.  But  it  is  in  fact,  and  ever  has  been,  the 
religion  of  the  people.  This  fact  is  everywhere 
prominent  in  all  our  civil  and  political  history, 
and  has  been  from  the  first  recognized  and 
acted  upon  by  the  people,  as  well  as  by  con- 
stitutional conventions,  by  legislatures,  and  by 
courts  of  justice." 

The  New  York  "Journal  of  Commerce" 
editorially  said:  "The  Bible  is  the  corner  stone 
of  our  whole  fabric,  and  that  Book,  in  the  ver- 
nacular tongue,  in  the  hands  of  everybody,  is 
the  grand  principle  of  Americanism.  This  is 
the  American  plan  of  liberty." 

Daniel  Webster,  distinguished  as  both  jurist 
and  statesman,  said  in  his  plea  before  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Girard  will  case:  "It  is 
the  same  in  Pennsylvania  as  elsewhere;  the 
general  principles  and  public  policy  are  some- 
times established  by  constitutional  provisions, 
sometimes  by  legislative  enactments,  sometimes 
by  judicial  decisions,  sometimes  by  general 
consent.  But  however  they  may  be  established, 
there  is  nothing  that  we  look  for  with  more 


ao  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

certainty  than  the  general  principle  that  Chris- 
tianity is  the  law  of  the  land.  This  is  the  case 
among  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  the 
Episcopalians  of  the  Southern  States,  the  Penn- 
sylvania Quakers,  the  Baptists,  the  mass  of  the 
followers  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  and  the 
Presbyterians;  all  brought  and  all  adopted  this 
great  truth,  and  all  sustain  it,  .  .  .  all  proclaim 
that  Christianity  to  which  the  sword  and  fagot 
are  unknown,  gentle,  tolerant  Christianity,  is 
the  law  of  the  land/* 

Professor  Story  in  his  great  work  on  the 
Constitution,  says:  "There  never  has  been  a 
period  in  which  the  common  law  did  not  recog- 
nize Christianity  as  lying  at  its  foundation.  It 
repudiates  every  act  done  in  violence  of  its 
duties  of  perfect  obligation.  It  pronounces 
illegal  every  contract  offensive  to  its  morals.*' 

Chief  Justice  Shea,  of  the  Marine  Court  of 
New  York  city,  says :  "The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  the  laws  in  pur- 
suance thereof,  declare,  with  approved  wisdom 
and  decorum,  by  necessary  presupposition  and 
inference,  that  the  tenets  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  government 
and  are  to  protect  and  regulate  its  operations. 
Our  own  government,  and  the  laws  which  ad- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  21 

minister  it,  are  in  every  part,  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive,  Christian  in  nature,  form,  and 
purpose." 

Judge  Strong,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  says:  "The  lav^s  and  institutions  of  all 
the  States  are  built  on  the  foundation  of  rever- 
ence for  Christianity." 

In  the  case  of  Holy  Trinity  Church  vs.  United 
States,  the  Supreme  Court,  after  mentioning 
various  circumstances,  formally  declares,  "These 
and  many  other  matters  v^hich  might  be  noticed 
add  a  volume  of  unofficial  declarations  to  the 
mass  of  organic  utterances  that  this  is  a  Chris- 
tian nation." 

Nothing  is  more  certain  that  this,  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  determined  the  govern- 
mental organization  of  the  United  States,  as 
it  accounts  for  the  discovery  and  settlement  of 
America. 

IV.    Development. 

The  grant  of  land  which  the  government  made 
to  its  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  and  its  home- 
stead preemption  lav^s,  the  sympathetic  response 
of  individual  churches  to  applications  for  pastoral 
service  from  former  parishioners  who  had  moved 
West,  and  the  zeal  of  various  Home  Missionary 


22  CHRISTIANITY  AxND 

Societies  contributed  largely  to  the  expansion 
of  the  nation. 

In  1800  the  United  States  included  only  six- 
teen States,  with  an  area  of  827,442  square  miles 
and  a  population  of  5,308,483,  spread  like  a 
picket-line  along  the  Atlantic  slope,  while  Ohio 
was  a  far-distant  Territory.  In  1900  it  ex- 
tended from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  includ- 
ing forty-five  States,  an  area  of  3,025,600  square 
miles,  a  population  of  76,303,387,  and  had  ac- 
cumulated ^94,300,000,000  in  material  wealth. 

During  the  century  twenty-nine  great  com- 
monwealths, each  with  an  average  area  very 
nearly  as  large  as  England  and  Scotland  com- 
bined, had  been  carved  out  of  the  wilderness, 
organized  and  equipped  with  all  the  accessories 
of  the  most  advanced  Christian  civilization, 
5,000,000  farms  had  been  brought  under  culti- 
vation and  stocked  with  domestic  animals, 
valued  at  ^,228,123,134,  mines  had  been  de- 
veloped, roads  constructed,  mills  and  manu- 
factories established,  while  homes  had  been 
built  and  furnished  for  70,000,000  citizens. 

This  involved  the  incoming  and  assimilation 
of  multitudes  of  immigrants.  During  the  last 
sixty  years  of  the  century  more  than  24,000,000 
foreigners,   whose   financial    resources    did   not 


THE  UNITED  STATES  23 

average  $ig  in  cash,  have  come  to  dwell  within 
our  borders.  The  majority  of  these  were  un- 
famiHar  with  our  language,  and  a  large  per 
cent  were  illiterate,  ignorant  of  evangelical 
Christianity,  and,  having  inherited  a  spirit  of 
intolerance  or  anarchy,  which  they  smuggled 
in  under  their  naturalization  papers,  they  were 
out  of  sympathy  with  the  genius  of  our  govern- 
ment. These  and  their  descendants  had  to  be 
informed — in  many  cases  reformed — and  as- 
similated. 

Isolation  is  the  mother  of  barbarism,  as  sepa- 
ration from  the  gentle  restraints  of  home  is  a 
fruitful  cause  of  moral  degeneration.  The  ag- 
ricultural population  in  our  rapidly  advancing 
frontiers  was  scattered,  while  in  mining,  lumber, 
and  construction  camps  rough  men,  separated 
from  the  refining  associations  of  mother,  wife, 
and  daughters,  and  subjected  to  the  gambling 
and  impure  influences  usual  to  such  conditions, 
gathered  in  their  scramble  for  wealth. 

If  there  are  gross  sins  among  us  and  occasional 
ebullitions  of  inhumanity  which  shock  the  moral 
sense — and  we  are  sadly  conscious  of  their  num- 
ber and  variety — they  neither  interpret  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  nor  the  steady  trend  of  our 
national  life,  but  contradict  both  and  reveal  the 


24  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

obduracy  of  the  material  and  pernicious  in- 
fluences which  compHcate  the  problem  we  are 
gradually  solving. 

Providentially,  previous  to  1840  our  total  im- 
migration from  all  quarters  did  not  exceed  half 
a  million.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  century 
these  came  largely  from  Great  Britain  and 
Canada,  and  aided  sympathetically  to  reproduce 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  in  the  States  organized 
within  that  period.  But  for  the  last  quarter  of 
the  century  more  than  half  the  immigrants  were 
Italian,  Hungarian,  and  Russian,  and  their  per- 
centage of  illiteracy  was  45,  24,  and  25  respec- 
tively. 

In  1863  our  government  emancipated  4,000,- 
000  negro  slaves,  an  inheritance  from  colonial 
days,  all  of  whom  were  illiterate.  What  power 
other  than  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  had 
made  us  a  nation  of  freemen,  could  prepare 
such  unpromising  material  to  exercise  the  rights 
and  perform  the  duties  of  freemen  ? 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States,  from 
earliest  times,  had  a  prophetic  dread  of  large 
populations  developing  in  new  areas  and  seek- 
ing admission  into  the  Union  without  possessing 
the  Christian  character  and  institutions  essen- 
tial to  a  self-governing  people. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  25 

The  ordinance  passed  by  Congress  in  1787, 
establishing  "The  Territory  Northwest  of  the 
Ohio  River,"  stated  that  "Religion,  morality, 
and  knowledge  being  essential  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind"  were  "for- 
ever" to  be  encouraged.  This  ordinance  in- 
augurated the  government  of  Territories  as 
incipient  States  and  barred  the  extension  of 
slavery. 

Within  the  first  decade  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  Bap- 
tist, Congregational,  Presbyterian,  and  Re- 
formed Churches,  in  Massachusetts,  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York,  and  other  States,  without 
consultation  but  almost  simultaneously,  formed 
societies  to  supply  money  and  preachers  to  work, 
as  they  stated  it,  for  "the  welfare  of  the  region 
beyond,"  and  "overtake  the  rapidly  multiplying 
settlements  with  the  means  of  Christian  civili- 
zation." Within  the  same  decade  the  Meth- 
odists, who  are  a  missionary  propaganda  by 
both  doctrine  and  discipline,  organized  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  more  than 
thirty  national  Home  Missionary  Societies  de- 
veloped within  the  evangelical  churches,  and 
expended  over  ;?200,ooo,ooo  for  the  extension 


26  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

of  Christianizing  influences  among  the  widely 
scattered  settlers. 

In  1777,  while  our  War  of  Independence  was 
in  progress,  our  scant  financial  resources  but 
partially  organized  and  overburdened  and  our 
national  existence  at  stake,  a  memorial  was 
presented  to  Congress  petitioning  the  govern- 
ment to  help  supply  the  people  with  Bibles. 
Congress  referred  the  petition  to  a  committee, 
who  recommended  "that  the  government  take 
immediate  measures  to  secure  20,000  copies 
from  Holland,  Scotland,  or  elsewhere  at  the 
expense  of  Congress."  In  1781  Congress,  by  a 
special  resolution,  highly  recommended  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  the  Bible  printed  by 
Robert  Aitkin,  of  Philadelphia.  Before  18 15 
over  130  societies  had  been  organized  in  the 
United  States  to  print  or  distribute  the  Bible. 

The  American  Bible  Society,  organized  in 
1816,  had  an  income  last  year  of  ^821,223  and 
issued  2,236,755  Bibles  or  portions  of  the  Bible, 
In  various  languages.  It  has  issued  since  its 
organization  78,509,529  copies,  a  considerable 
part  of  which  were  for  distribution  abroad.  It 
has  541  auxiliary  societies,  and  there  are  many 
other  smaller  Bible  societies  in  the  nation  en- 
gaged in  similar  work. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  27 

As  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  are  the  inspira- 
tion of  our  national  Hfe,  a  careful  canvass  was 
made  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  at  least 
four  times  during  the  nineteenth  century  to  sup- 
ply every  family  with  a  copy  in  its  own  language. 

The  American  Tract  Society,  organized  in 
1825  to  disseminate  Christian  literature,  was 
preceded  by  many  local  organizations  in  the 
individual  churches.  In  three  quarters  of  a 
century  it  has  issued  about  800,000,000  copies 
of  its  various  publications,  and  there  are  many 
similar  but  smaller  societies. 

The  American  Sunday  School  Union,  or- 
ganized in  1824,  ^^^  gathered  over  100,000 
Sunday  schools,  with  600,000  voluntary  teachers, 
by  whom  the  Bible  and  Christian  hymns  have 
been  taught  to  4,500,000  Sunday  school  scholars. 
In  addition  to  this  it  has  prepared  Christian 
literature  adapted  to  children  and  young  people, 
and  distributed  it  among  the  needy  churches 
and  Sunday  schools,  in  our  army  and  navy, 
reformatories,  prisons,  penitentiaries,  and  among 
the  dependent  classes,  at  an  aggregate  expense 
of  over  $9,000,000.  Most  of  the  larger  denom- 
inations have  similar  organizations. 

Possibly  the  most  distinctively  American  in- 
stitution is  our  public  school.     It  is  among  the 


28  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

most  formative  of  our  many  agencies  working 
for  the  moral  and  intellectual  education  of  the 
people,  and  it  owes  its  origin  and  development 
to  the  spirit  and  foresight  of  the  churches. 
Evangelical  Christianity  inevitably  quickens  in- 
tellectual activity,  begets  an  appreciation  of  the 
relations  and  responsibilities  of  life,  and  develops 
opportunities  for  making  the  most  of  one's  self. 

In  1645  ^^^  people  of  Dorchester  made  the 
"first  public  provision  in  the  world  for  a  free 
school  supported  by  a  direct  taxation  on  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town."  The  teacher  was 
required  to  open  the  school  morning  and  even- 
ing with  prayer  and  to  catechize  his  scholars  in 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion. 

So  public  schools  were  devised  and  fostered 
in  every  colony,  with  distinctive  religious  in- 
struction as  their  chief  concern.  Starting  with 
widely  scattered  local  initiative,  they  had  three 
things  in  common:  the  religious  impulse,  the 
church  members  as  their  loyal  and  liberal  pro- 
moters, and  Christian  character  as  their  objec- 
tive. 

The  schools  have  been  developed  and  greatly 
improved  in  organization,  supervision,  equip- 
ment, and  methods  of  teaching  by  converging 
influences  and  the  combined  efforts  of  many 


THE  UNITED  STATES  29 

devoted  and  efficient  educators.  While  they  do 
not  impart  formal  religious  instruction,  leaving 
that  to  the  home  and  the  Church,  and  most  of 
them  do  not  include  the  Bible  in  their  daily 
exercises,  to  the  great  regret  of  very  many,  yet 
their  teachers  are  generally  Christians  and  their 
discipline  and  trend  are  increasingly  ethical. 

All  religions  are  more  or  less  educative. 
Christianity  is  essentially  so.  Plant  it  any- 
where and  the  demand  for  a  Christian  college 
soon  emerges.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  our  American  colleges  ov^e  their  founda- 
tion and  maintenance  to  the  spirit  and  liberality 
of  the  churches. 

Harvard,  the  first  institution  for  the  promo- 
tion of  higher  education  in  America,  vs^as  born 
of  religious  conviction  and  adopted  as  its  motto, 
"In  Christi  Gloriam."  For  more  than  130 
years  every  president,  except  one,  was  a  minister, 
and  during  its  first  century  45  per  cent  of  its 
graduates  were  ministers. 

The  grant  for  the  second  college,  William  and 
Mary,  founded  in  1693  in  Virginia,  was  made 
"for  propagating  the  pure  gospel  of  Christ,  our 
only  Mediator,  to  the  praise  and  honor  of  Al- 
mighty God,"  and  it  owed  its  success  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Blair. 


30  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Yale  was  founded  in  response  to  the  formal 
action  of  a  Synod  of  the  Church  in  1698,  that 
"youth  may  be  instructed  in  the  arts  and  the 
sciences,  who  through  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God  may  be  fitted  for  public  employment  in  the 
Church  and  civil  State/'  Its  trustees  were 
limited  to  Congregational  ministers  living  in  the 
colony,  and  for  more  than  a  century  every  one 
of  its  presidents  was  a  minister. 

Every  college  projected  in  the  colonial  period 
owed  its  origin  to  the  Church,  and  that  which 
was  universally  true  in  the  colonial  period  has 
been  predominantly  true  ever  since.  The  Amer- 
ican educational  spirit  was  inspired  and  has  been 
nourished  by  the  Christian  churches. 

Of  the  370  colleges  and  universities  reported 
by  the  Commissioner  of  Education  in  1884 — I 
quote  from  that  report  because  it  is  the  latest 
I  have  at  hand — 309,  or  over  83  per  cent,  were 
under  denominational  control;  only  61,  or  less 
than  17  per  cent,  were  undenominational,  and 
23  of  these  were  State  institutions.  More  than 
three  fourths,  nearly  four  fifths  (79  per  cent), 
of  all  the  students  were  in  the  denominational 
institutions. 

A  record  of  ten  Western  colleges  and  three 
theological   seminaries   shows  that  their  grad- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  31 

uates  had  served  as  pastors  or  missionaries  in 
3,000  towns,  and  supplied  15,000  towns  with 
30,000  teachers. 

The  expenditure  for  Bibles,  Sunday  school 
extension,  tract  distribution,  denominational 
literature,  and  Christian  education  has  exceeded 
;?300,ooo,ooo,  w^hich  added  to  the  fooo,ooo,ooo 
expended  in  church  extension,  makes  over 
;?50o,ooo,ooo,  voluntarily  contributed  by  Chris- 
tian people,  that  youth,  the  isolated  and  the  less 
favored,  might  be  prepared  for  Christian  citizen- 
ship— the  strong  bearing  the  infirmities  of  the 
weak,  and  so  fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ. 

The  problems  of  a  growing  nation  continu- 
ally change.  This  is  especially  true  where 
personal  freedom  gives  large  stimulus  to  per- 
sonal initiative,  and  social,  industrial,  and 
economic  conditions  are  finding  varied  and 
colossal  development.  It  has  come  to  pass  that 
the  frontiers  of  our  civilization  are  found  to-day 
in  our  "homeless  cities."  In  1800  but  3  per 
cent  of  our  population  was  urban;  in  1900,  33 
per  cent.  In  our  160  cities  of  25,000  or  more, 
53  per  cent  of  the  population  are  foreign-born 
or  of  foreign  parentage. 

This  change  of  population  from  the  country 
to  congested  centers  in  the  cities,  and  its  con- 


32  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

comitant  conditions,  seriously  compromise  the 
home  life  and  threaten  both  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence. The  business  opportunities,  varied  at- 
tractions, and  general  glamour  of  the  city  appeal 
especially  to  young  men  and  young  women, 
alluring  them  away  from  the  less  strenuous 
demands  of  the  rustic  and  village  life.  Un- 
sophisticated, homeless,  and  ofttimes  without 
employment  or  financial  resources,  they  are 
in  danger  of  being  caught  in  a  maelstrom 
of  vice  and  swept  into  dissipation  and  im- 
purity before  they  have  gained  a  footing. 
The  Church  is  a  natural  haven  and  wise 
friend  for  such. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
transplanted  from  England  in  1851,  has  done  a 
magnificent  work  among  this  especially  strategic 
class.  In  1901,  at  the  close  of  half  a  century,  it 
had  1,600  separate  organizations,  332,224  mem- 
bers, and  over  fc4,ooo,ooo  invested  in  its  work. 
It  has  a  separate  department  for  colleges  and 
schools,  with  a  membership  of  170,000;  a  de- 
partment for  work  among  railroad  men,  with 
170  organizations  and  50,000  members.  An- 
other department  is  conducting  efficient  work 
in  our  army  and  navy;  632  army  posts  report 
some  form  of  its  work. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  33 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association 
is  working  effectively  among  the  young  women. 

The  Student  Volunteer  Movement;  the  bureau 
to  extend  organized  Bible  study;  the  employ- 
ment bureaus;  the  inexpensive,  attractive,  and 
well-guarded  homes  for  young  men  and  young 
women,  and  other  forms  of  beneficent  enter- 
prise by  which  these  associations  interpret  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  seeking  the  young,  quick- 
ening and  conserving  their  holiest  aspirations, 
and  bringing  to  them  enlargement  of  oppor- 
tunity, are  significant  factors  in  our  national 
life. 

The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  Ep- 
worth  League,  the  Baptist  Young  People's 
Union,  and  similar  organizations,  with  their 
enrollment  of  5,000,000  young  people  whom 
they  seek  to  indoctrinate  in  the  principles  of 
Christianity,  interest  in  the  activities  of  the 
Church,  and  prepare  for  good  citizenship,  are 
far-reaching  in  their  influence. 

The  Sunday  schools,  for  Bible  instruction, 
with  their  aggregate  enrollment  of  14,000,000 
children  and  youth,  the  almost  interminable  list 
of  other  denominational  and  interdenomina- 
tional organizations,  covering  the  whole  range 
of  life  from  the  creche  and  free  kindergarten  to 


34  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

the  homes  for  the  aged  and  homes  for  the  in- 
curable, suggest  the  varied  manifestations  and 
exhaustless  ministries  of  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity as  it  stands  related  to  our  nation  and  its 
development. 

Education,  obedience  to  law,  reverence  for 
truth,  temperance,  security  of  life  and  property, 
material  prosperity,  social  progress,  patriotism, 
conscience,  integrity  are  nurtured  by  Chris- 
tianity. In  a  government  by  the  people  and 
for  the  people  a  high  moral  sense  of  duty 
counts  for  more  than  anything  else. 

This  spirit  of  consecration,  which  generously 
gives  of  its  substance  and  braves  all  dangers  to 
secure  the  extension  of  Christianity,  is  neither 
self-centered  nor  indifferent  to  the  demands  of 
citizenship.  Through  its  virility  and  construc- 
tive influence  the  development  of  the  nation 
was  secured. 

Among  the  many  extraordinary  facts  in  the 
political  history  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
most  significant  is  the  development  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Nothing'  else  bulks 
so  large  or  is  so  inclusive  of  resources  and 
achievement.  Victor  in  every  war  which  has 
engaged  her  prowess,  determining  her  own 
ideals  and  prosecuting  them  in  her  own  way, 


THE  UNITED  STATES  35 

the  record  of  her  organic  evolution  by  the  con- 
structive influence  of  vital  forces  working  from 
v^ithin  is  without  a  parallel. 

The  potential  cause  of  this  phenomenal  evolu- 
tion is  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  That  accounts 
for  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  America,  it 
determined  our  governmental  organization,  and 
has  been  the  dominating  influence  in  our 
national  development. 

V.  Present  Status. 

Marvelous  as  this  record  is,  the  growth  of  the 
evangelical  churches  has  been  more  remarkable 
than  the  development  of  our  nation.  The  cause 
must  be  greater  than  its  results.  In  1800  the 
Protestant  church  members  were  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  as  four  to  fifty-eight; 
in  1900,  as  four  to  seventeen.  That  is,  during 
the  century  the  evangelical  church  membership 
increased  3.41 —  times  as  fast  as  the  population. 
The  2,340  churches,  valued  at  ^1,500,000  in 
1800,  had  increased  to  187,800  churches,  valued 
at  ^724,900,000,  in  1900.  If  the  value  of  par- 
sonages and  denominational  schools  be  added, 
there  was  ;?  1,000,000,000  invested  in  property 
specifically  dedicated  for  the  dissemination  of 
Christianity,  all  the  free  gift  of  its  adherents. 


36  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Progress  is  a  relative  matter  and,  while  we 
are  yet  far  from  the  goal,  the  power  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ  to  redeem  men,  to  uplift  society,  and 
to  make  a  nation  strong  by  righteousness  has 
been  demonstrated,  and  this  force  was  never 
stronger,  nor  strengthening  more  rapidly,  in  the 
United  States  than  to-day.  The  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity is  more  manifest  in  its  varied  activities, 
has  a  larger  following  among  men  of  culture  and 
influence,  and  is  more  widely  diflTused  and  con- 
structive in  our  social  problems  than  ever  before. 

As  Timothy  Dwight  has  well  said,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century:  "There  was  more 
individuality  and  less  of  the  combination  of 
forces,  more  of  private  effort  directed  to  per- 
sonal development  and  less  of  organized  work 
for  the  common  well-being,  more  serious  reflec- 
tion on  the  inner  life  and  less  of  the  freeness  and 
largeness  of  Christian  love,  and  less  of  the 
joyousness  of  Christian  hope  in  its  contrast  to 
self-examining  questions  and  self-distrusting 
fears." 

Mr.  Bryce  says:  "The  relaxation  of  the  old 
strictness  of  orthodoxy  has  not  diminished  the 
zeal  of  the  various  churches,  nor  their  hold  upon 
their  adherents,  nor  their  attachment  to  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity." 


THE  UNITED  STATES  37 

Dr.  John  Watson,  after  stating  the  criticism 
and  evidence  of  non-Christian  activities,  says: 
"Never  in  any  age  nor  in  any  land  was  that 
which  saves  and  sanctifies  presented  more 
clearly  and  forcefully  than  it  is,  by  word  and 
life,  in  the  Christian  Church  in  the  United 
States  at  the  present  time." 

An  average  of  twelve  to  fifteen  new  churches 
are  being  completed  and  dedicated  every  day 
of  every  week  in  the  year  within  the  common- 
wealth. The  churches,  through  their  Church 
Extension  Societies,  are  giving  annually  ^6,000- 
000,  largely  as  grants  in  aid  for  new  churches 
to  the  less  favored  communities. 

In  1900  the  churches  spent  for  the  main- 
tenance of  their  activities,  for  philanthropy,  and 
for  Christian  education  ^287,047,300.  In  the 
last  four  years  they  made  a  net  gain  of  11,771 
ministers,  13,633  churches,  and  3,433,959  com- 
municants. The  annual  loss  by  death  averages 
about  one  in  seventy-five,  and  the  loss  by  dis- 
cipline is  a  considerable  number;  these  make 
a  total  for  the  four  years  of,  say,  1,400,000 
which  must  be  added  to  the  net  gain  in  member- 
ship to  determine  the  actual  ingathering. 

If  in  America  Christianity  is  characterized 
by  less  mysticism  than  formerly,  it  is  distin- 


38  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

guished  by  greater  righteousness.  If  the  sanc- 
timonious look  is  less  conspicuous,  the  out- 
stretched hand  is  more  in  evidence.  If  it  no 
longer  bums  witches  and  heretics,  there  is  a 
deep  moral  revulsion  against  acts  which  form- 
erly passed  uncondemned.  If  the  historic  and 
literary  settings  of  the  Bible  have  been  examined 
more  critically  and  discussed  less  reservedly, 
nothing  has  been  disturbed  but  a  few  human 
interpretations,  and  unthinking  credulity  is  giv- 
ing place  to  a  more  intelligent  faith.  Once  the 
institution  was  more  to  its  members  than  the 
underlying  principles  of  love  which  it  is  in- 
tended to  embody.  Now  these  principles  are 
more  insisted  upon  than  the  institutional  pecu- 
liarities. If  the  church  members  are  not  so 
jealous  for  a  particular  system,  they  are  more 
concerned  for  righteousness  and  the  larger 
kingdom  of  God.  A  notable  absence  of  con- 
troversy, a  kindliness  of  spirit,  a  hopefulness 
and  expectancy  in  the  discussions  of  our  national 
denominational  assemblies,  mark  the  dawn  of 
a  better  day.  Instead  of  the  dissipating  rival- 
ries of  overzealous  sectarians  which  at  times 
have  embroiled  the  Church,  federated  activities 
and  organic  union  among  branches  of  the  same 
denominational  family  are  securing  economy  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES  39 

resources,  broadening  of  influence,  and  increas- 
ing efficiency. 

The  directive  influence  of  the  college  graduate 
in  the  United  States  is  very  remarkable.  Of 
the  men  over  tv^enty-one  years  of  age,  about 
one  in  every  one  hundred,  on  the  average,  is  a 
college  graduate.  A  century  ago  it  was  only 
one  in  about  every  five  hundred.  Yet  the  col- 
lege graduates  have  furnished  J^-i-  per  cent  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence; 
53 —  P^^  ^^^^  ^f  ^^^  Convention  of  1787,  which 
framed  our  Constitution;  32  per  cent  of  the 
members  of  our  national  House  of  Representa- 
tives; 46  per  cent  of  our  senators;  65  per  cent  of 
our  Presidents;  and  y^  per  cent  of  the  judges 
of  our  Supreme  Court,  while  every  chief  justice 
except  one  has  been  a  college  graduate.  Of  the 
men  now  living  who  have  won  conspicuous  suc- 
cess, as  shown  by  Who's  Who  in  America, 
73+  per  cent  are  college  graduates;  and  the 
percentage  is  gradually  rising. 

The  increasing  influence  of  Christianity 
through  men  of  culture  and  influence  is  indicated 
by  the  significant  fact  that,  while  the  proportion 
of  students  in  the  colleges  and  universities  who 
were  members  of  the  evangelical  churches 
seventy-five  years   ago  was  only  25  per  cent, 


40  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

and  fifty  years  ago  33  per  cent,  it  is  to-day  53 
per  cent  and  steadily  increasing. 

When  men  of  clean  lives  go  from  America  to 
a  foreign  land,  where  they  are  unknown,  freed 
from  the  restraints  of  home,  in  peculiar  con- 
ditions, overstrained  nervously,  or  suffering 
from  ennui,  they  sometimes  cater  to  their  lowest 
nature  and  behave  in  a  beastly  manner.  That 
is  neither  the  fault  of  the  land  they  are  visiting 
nor  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  land  of  their 
birth.  So  if  others  coming  to  America  become 
loose  in  their  habits,  that  does  not  interpret  the 
land  from  which  they  came  nor  the  ideals  of 
the  land  where  they  fall.  It  is  only  just  to 
estimate  every  land  by  those  who  live  in  it, 
rather  than  by  those  who  live  out  of  it  or  fail 
to  adjust  themselves  to  its  ideals. 

As  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  has  said:  "If  it 
can  be  said  that  some  men  lose  in  college  the 
religious  impulse  imparted  in  childhood's  home, 
it  may  also  be  said  that  many  men  find  in  col- 
lege a  conception  of  God,  of  life,  of  personal 
obligation  all  the  more  controlling  because  ac- 
quired under  conditions  of  moral  liberty  that 
tested  the  soul  as  with  a  refiner's  fire." 

The  influence  of  our  colleges  and  universities 
is  so  vitally  related  to  the  life  of  their  students, 


THE  UNITED  STATES  41 

and  through  them  to  the  future  of  our  nation 
and  the  world,  we  will  do  well  to  call  expert 
testimony  as  to  its  character  and  tendency. 

President  Harper,  late  of  Chicago  University, 
said:  "There  is  to  be  found  to-day  a  religious 
interest  in  our  colleges  which  is  absolutely  un- 
paralleled. .  .  .  It  is  unquestionable  that  the 
life  of  students  to-day  is  more  natural,  more 
wholesome,  more  pure  than  in  any  previous 
period  of  education." 

President  Butler,  of  Columbia  University, 
says:  "Christian  Associations  exercise  a  power- 
ful influence  in  college  and  intercollegiate  ath- 
letics. Their  members  are  almost  uniformly 
among  the  leaders  in  the  social,  athletic,  and 
scholastic  life  of  the  schools,  and  in  their  reli- 
gious talk  and  living  there  is  a  refreshing  and 
convincing  note  of  manliness  and  whole-hearted- 
ness." 

From  the  History  of  Yale  University  w^e 
quote:  "Unquestionably  the  college  is  produc- 
ing a  more  perfect  physical  manhood,  which 
means  the  elimination  of  many  temptations  and 
not  a  few  vices.  The  intellectual  standards 
have  steadily  advanced,  so  that  a  graduate  of 
1800  could  not  more  than  meet  the  entrance 
requirements   of   1900;   and   the   personal   ad- 


42  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

vance  in  the  deepening  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
life  is  fully  as  conspicuous  as  that  in  the  physical 
and  mental  realm." 

President  Tucker  says :  **Our  colleges  are  the 
recruiting  ground  for  all  agencies  which  do 
their  work  at  the  heart  of  humanity.  .  .  .  Deeper 
than  the  currents  of  the  physical  life,  which  run 
so  swiftly,  are  the  currents  of  the  spiritual  life." 

E.  N.  Hardy  says:  "Every  year  the  propor- 
tion of  students  who  are  Christians  when  enter- 
ing college  rises,  and,  while  the  stated  revival 
is  disappearing  from  both  church  and  college, 
the  average  annual  number  of  conversions  in 
our  colleges  is  to  the  total  enrollment  of  students 
proportionately  larger.  .  .  .  Never  in  the  his- 
tory of  America  was  there  such  a  large  and 
superb  body  of  young  men  and  young  women 
of  college  education  eagerly  pressing  into  the 
hardest  places  of  service  for  Christ  and  the 
Church." 

Anyone  who  has  considered  the  Student 
Volunteer  Conferences,  held  at  Toronto  in  1902 
and  at  Nashville  in  1906,  or  this  Conference  of 
the  World's  Student  Christian  Federation  in 
Tokyo,  must  concede  that  they  are  indices  of 
the  "most  marked  religious  phenomena  of  the 
age."     This  one  phase  of  the  religious  life  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES  43 

the  college  demonstrates  that  Christianity  is 
becoming  more  and  more  deeply  rooted  in  the 
centers  of  education  and  in  the  lives  of  the  men 
of  trained  intellect.  "The  history  of  civiliza- 
tion teaches  that  as  go  the  colleges  so  goes  the 
nation.'* 

The  rays  of  light  most  effective  in  photog- 
raphy are  those  v^hich  do  not  class  among  the 
seven  colors,  but  lie  just  beyond  the  spectrum 
as  discernible  to  the  unaided  eye.  So  the 
activities  which  do  not  class  as  specifically 
under  the  direction  of  the  churches,  but  are 
extra-denominational,  may  best  photograph  the 
pervasive  influence  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
in  our  nation. 

Of  the  50,000  newspapers  and  periodicals  in 
the  world,  20,528  are  published  in  the  United 
States.  These  may  be  classed  as  religious,  semi- 
religious,  or  secular.  A  large  number  of  the 
secular  papers,  both  daily  and  weekly,  regularly 
print  the  weekly  Sunday  school  Bible  lessons, 
with  carefully  prepared  expositions,  while  most 
of  the  secular  papers  have  from  one  column  to 
a  page  or  more  devoted  to  "religious  items  and 
comments";  and  all,  with  rare  exceptions, 
whatever  may  be  the  sensational  character  of 
their  news  columns,  ring  true  editorially  to  the 


44  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

great  ethical  questions  and  benevolent  activities 
v^^hich  interpret  Christianity. 

The  courts  of  justice,  when  inducting  into 
office  and  taking  testimony,  administer  the  oath 
upon  the  Bible. 

The  care  of  the  State  for  the  afflicted  and 
defective  classes,  in  providing  hospitals  for  the 
diseased,  almshouses  for  the  destitute,  homes 
for  the  incurable,  workhouses  for  the  indigent, 
asylums  for  the  insane,  special  schools  for  the 
bhnd,  deaf,  mute,  and  simple-minded,  and  re- 
formatories for  the  incorrigible,  is  a  practical 
charity  born  of  the  Christian  spirit.  A  special 
bulletin  recently  issued  by  the  Census  Bureau 
reports  4,207  of  these  benevolent  institutions, 
and  the  cost  of  maintaining  them,  exclusive  of 
improvements,  for  the  year  1903  was  ^55,577- 
633.  Of  this  sum  ;S522,353,i84  was  paid  from 
public  funds. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  1904  in  the  State  of 
New  York  ^5,000,000  was  spent  for  philan- 
thropy. A  distinguished  English  writer  says: 
"In  works  of  active  beneficence  no  country  has 
surpassed,  perhaps  none  has  equalled,  the 
United  States." 

It  has  come  to  pass  that  employers,  both 
corporate  and  individual,  are  seeking  industrial 


THE  UNITED  STATES  45 

betterment  through  the  development  of  man- 
hood by  substituting  justice  and  humanity  for 
spasmodic  charity,  in  well-directed  efforts  to 
improve  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  con- 
dition of  their  employees.  These  efforts  are  so 
varied  and  significant  as  to  constitute  one  of 
the  most  noteworthy  features  of  our  social 
progress.  They  include  profit-sharing,  savings 
associations,  accident  relief  funds,  insurance, 
pensions,  public  buildings,  libraries,  gymna- 
siums, athletic  grounds,  baths,  model  homes, 
social  and  educational  clubs,  lectures,  lunch 
rooms,  rest  rooms,  hospitals,  trained  nurses, 
park  carriages  and  seaside  cottages  for  con- 
valescents, week's  vacation  with  pay,  annual 
excursions,  loans  on  homes  at  moderate  interest, 
prizes  for  suggestions  in  machines  or  methods, 
and  many  others,  all  of  which  register  a  prac- 
tical recognition  of  the  ethical  responsibility  of 
both  employers  and  employees.  A  number  of 
firms  have  added  to  their  business  staff  a  "social 
secretary,"  to  promote  a  closer  relationship  be- 
tween the  employer  and  employee. 

The  legislation  intended  to  regulate  the  rela- 
tion between  capital  and  labor  is  growing 
steadily  more  and  more  considerate  of  the 
supreme  value  of  personality,   and  more   and 


46  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

more  restrictive  of  combinations,  indifference 
to  health,  and  sordidness.  It  provides  that  the 
employee  shall  have  a  safe  place  to  labor,  safe 
appliances  and  proper  instruction  in  their  use, 
and  the  employer  is  held  liable  for  damages 
resulting  from  failure  to  do  this.  About  half 
the  States  provide  for  the  sanitary  regulation  of 
factories  and  shops,  v^ith  inspectors  to  enforce 
the  lav^s,  which  are  constantly  being  improved, 
and  more  than  a  dozen  States  maintain  free 
employment  bureaus. 

The  National  Civic  Federation,  representing 
labor,  capital,  and  the  people  at  large,  is  com- 
posed of  most  representative  men.  Its  v^ork  is 
in  the  interests  of  justice  and  conciliation,  v^hich 
it  seeks  to  secure  through  the  dissemination  of 
information,  development  of  confidence,  and 
encouragement  of  conferences. 

The  spirit  of  arbitration,  industrial,  commer- 
cial, national,  and  international,  which  appeals 
to  reason  instead  of  force,  makes  steady  progress. 
Processes  are  sometimes  slow  when  conditions 
are  varied,  but,  as  Dr.  John  Watson  says,  "there 
can  be  no  question  that  whenever  an  issue  of 
righteousness  is  put  before  the  nation,  the  na- 
tion decides  rightly." 

The  attitude  of  the  nation  toward  Cuba,  the 


THE  UNITED  STATES  47 

Philippines,  South  America,  Mexico,  China, 
Japan,  and  other  nations,  is  no  spasmodic  ex- 
pression of  a  Christian  spirit  which  she  fails  to 
practice  at  home.  When  our  civil  war  had  been 
fought  to  a  finish,  establishing  the  government 
of  the  people  and  eradicating  human  slavery 
from  our  borders,  the  victors,  admiring  the 
honesty,  courage,  and  sacrifices  of  their  de- 
feated fellow  citizens,  "sent  them  home  equipped 
with  the  needful  appliances  of  husbandry,  to 
till  the  soil,  repair  their  shattered  industries, 
reconstruct  the  States  upon  whose  altars  they 
had  offered  their  lives,  and  invited  them  to 
share  the  glory  of  governing  the  restored  re- 
public." 

There  is  great  awakening  to  civic  righteous- 
ness throughout  the  nation,  which  is  keying  up 
political  integrity,  fiduciary  honesty,  and  social 
purity.  As  these  are  all  essentially  ethical 
questions  they  come  within  the  Church's  sphere 
of  influence,  though  they  are  neither  confined 
to  nor  directed  by  the  Church.  This  move- 
ment is  organized  in  more  than  eighty  centers 
and  is  strengthening  its  influence  by  detailed 
organization,  interchange  of  counsel,  and  an 
ably  conducted  educational  propaganda,  which 
seeks  to  root  its  motives  in  the  conscience  and 


48  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

intelligence  of  the  citizen.  Many  notable  vic- 
tories have  been  won,  like  those  in  Boston, 
New  York,  Jersey  City,  Philadelphia,  Cincin- 
nati, Cleveland,  Toledo,  and  Salt  Lake  City. 
High  officials  have  been  held  to  strict  account, 
like  the  senator  from  Oregon,  the  senator  from 
Kansas,  the  management  of  great  insurance 
companies  and  commercial  corporations,  and 
various  prominent  politicians.  The  steady  pull 
of  the  national  life  is  toward  the  ethical  standard 
of  Christianity. 

While  the  Constitution  provides  that  "No 
religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  quali- 
fication to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the 
United  States,"  widely  diffused  appreciation  of 
Christian  character  and  its  dominating  in- 
fluence throughout  the  nation  are  shown  by  the 
high  positions  to  which  Christians  have  been 
called  by  the  free  franchise  of  the  people.  In 
September,  1906,  just  before  leaving  America, 
I  instituted  inquiries  concerning  the  religious 
affiliation  of  the  members  of  Congress,  and 
regret  that  want  of  time  prevented  me  from 
securing  complete  returns,  but  I  give  a 
summary  of  the  facts  so  far  as  I  received 
them. 

Of  the  387  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  49 

sentatlves,  252,  or  65  per  cent,  were  reported, 
and  216,  or  85+  per  cent  of  these,  are  members 
of  the  evangelical  churches.  Of  the  90  senators, 
60,  or  two  thirds,  were  reported,  and  53,  or  88+ 
per  cent,  are  connected  with  the  evangelical 
churches,  and  nearly  every  member  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  is  a  believer  in  some  form 
of  Christianity. 

Of  the  9  members  of  the  Cabinet,  7  are 
evangelical  Christians,  i  Roman  Catholic,  and 
I  Unitarian. 

Of  the  9  members  of  the  Supreme  Court,  6 
are  evangelical  Christians,  2  Roman  Catholics, 
and  I  Unitarian.  There  has  never  been  an 
atheist  or  agnostic  (with  possibly  one  excep- 
tion) among  the  judges  of  our  Supreme  Court. 
These  men,  who  know  evidence  and  constitute 
one  of  the  great  judicial  bodies  of  the  world, 
all  (with  one  possible  exception)  have  been 
believers  in  some  form  of  Christianity. 

Of  the  25  who  have  been  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  all  have  been  believers  in  Chris- 
tianity, 16  have  been  communicants.  Since 
President  Lincoln,  who  was  a  man  of  faith  and 
prayer,  everyone  elected  to  that  high  office  has 
been  a  communicant  in  some  one  of  the  evan- 
gelical  churches.     Could  there   be   a   stronger 


50  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

testimony  to  the  pervasive  influence  of  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  ? 

Jesus  Christ  commanded  his  disciples  to  "Go 
heal,"  which  includes  all  forms  of  benevolence; 
to  "Go  teach,"  which  includes  all  forms  of 
Christian  education;  to  "Go  disciple,"  or  to 
bring  all  instructed  persons  into  organic  rela- 
tion to  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  essential 
spirit  of  Christianity  is  interpreted  and  to  be 
gauged  by  obedience  to  these  three  commands. 

The  benevolence  of  the  United  States  is  more 
varied,  considerate,  widely  diffused,  and  gen- 
erous than  at  any  time  in  its  previous  history. 
Education  in  the  United  States,  both  primary 
and  advanced,  is  more  thorough,  more  acces- 
sible to  our  youth,  and  more  nearly  interprets 
the  ethics  of  Christianity  than  ever  before.  The 
presidents  of  the  State,  military,  naval,  and 
undenominational  as  well  as  of  the  denomina- 
tional colleges  and  schools  for  higher  education 
are  almost  to  a  man  believers  in  some  form  of 
Christianity.  Not  one  of  them  is  identified 
with  any  other  form  of  religion,  and  the  great 
majority  of  them  are  evangelical  Christians. 
This  is  almost  equally  true  of  the  leading  pro- 
fessors. If  an  occasional  one  is  found  who  is 
not,  it  is  relatively  so  rare  an  occurrence  as  to 


THE  UNITED  STATES  51 

be  very  conspicuous.  Christianity  is  the  per- 
vading and  directing  influence  in  American 
education.  Each  year  the  number  of  Bible 
classes  maintained  by  the  students  for  devo- 
tional study  increases  and  the  interest  deepens, 
while  the  colleges  are  more  largely  offering 
systematic  Bible  study  as  an  elective  and  in 
their  regular  curriculum. 

Last  year  (1906)  the  churches  in  America 
made  a  net  gain  of  4,300  ministers,  3,635 
churches,  and  870,389  communicants,  and  gave 
^^8,980,448  to  extend  the  ministries  and  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  truth  among  non-Christian 
peoples. 

The  tone  of  our  public  life,  the  quality  of 
our  statesmanship,  the  ideals  of  our  nation, 
have  been  lifted  closer  to  the  ethical  standards 
of  Christianity  and  in  a  measure  sanctified  dur- 
ing the  past  ten  years. 

Evangelical  Christianity,  so  patient  and  per- 
sistently constructive,  so  essentially  educative 
and  uplifting,  has  been  the  potential  cause  of 
our  growth  and  transformation.  By  the  gentle 
persuasion  of  loving  ministry,  by  the  inherent 
energy  of  the  simple  truths  concerning  God  and 
man  as  revealed  in  Christ  Jesus,  by  the  living 
force  of  consecrated  lives,  the  wilderness  has 


52  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

been  made  to  blossom  as  the  rose;  a  world  power 
has  developed  where  there  were  no  people; 
loyalty  to  Christian  principles  has  evolved  an 
unprecedented  wealth  of  resources,  and  the 
fundamental  conviction  of  the  American  people 
is  that  "righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin 
is  a  reproach  to  any  people." 


DATE  DUE 

MfllfliiiilitiiiiriiMi 

^ 

CAYLORO 

PNINTCOIM  U   S.A 

